1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fruit processing equipment and more particularly concerns an improved citrus fruit juice extractor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The complete commercial processing of citrus fruit to obtain the juice therefrom today includes the dejuicing and discharging of the pulp and internal membranes of the fruit, the breaking up and ejecting of the peel, the extracting and collecting of the peel oil, and the separate extracting and collecting of the fruit juice. All of the above operations can be performed by the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,649,730 to J. M. Hait and U.S. Pat. No. 2,780,988 to W. C. Belk et al.
In the apparatus disclosed in the aforesaid Hait and Belk et al patents, a whole unpeeled citrus fruit, for example, an orange, is placed between two opposed cups, each cup being formed by a plurality of circumferentially spaced fingers and one cup having a small exit passage for the juice. The two cups are moved together so that the fingers, which are arranged in a circumferentially offset, interdigitating relationship, progressively contract the cavity in which the fruit is placed to thereby squeeze the juice from the fruit. Near the end of each juicing cycle, the peel is shredded and ejected through an annular opening adjacent the upper central portion of the upper cup.
More particularly, each lower cup of the prior art juice extractor has an aperture formed centrally therein and a tubular knife is fitted tightly within such aperture. The knife has an annular blade that extends upwardly beyond the aperture into the cavity of the lower cup. The tubular knife is supported on the upper end of a strainer tube which forms a part of the juice separating system of the extractor. A juice collecting sump is positioned around the strainer tube to collect juice forced through the apertures in the strainer tube. An orifice tube is slidably received in the strainer tube, and it is driven in timed relationship with the upper cup. Thus, in operation, the upper cup moves downwardly into interdigitation with the lower cup, thereby squeezing the citrus fruit on all sides and pressing it against the annular knife blade, which, in turn, cuts a plug out of the peel of the fruit. As the citrus fruit is further compressed by the interdigitating cups, juice, seeds and pulp of the fruit are forced downwardly into the strainer tube, the lower end of which is blocked by the orifice tube whose axial passage is, in turn, closed by solid extraction residues of previously processed fruit. As the juice-bearing internal material of the fruit is pressed into the strainer tube by the squeezing action, the orifice tube is driven upwardly to thereby reduce the effective volume of the strainer tube and force the juice out through the perforations in the strainer tube into the collecting sump. Subsequently, the upper cup and the orifice tube are retracted to their initial positions so that another fruit may be fed to the lower cup.
Recently, citrus fruit processors have attempted to use the interdigitating cup type of citrus juice extractor to produce a juice product having more substantially whole juice sacs therein to provide the juice with additional bulk.